Research in Physics at HMC

Each student is encouraged to do individual experimental or
theoretical research in an area of his/her special interest in
conjunction with a faculty member. The department has a rigorous
student-faculty research program in a wide variety of fields in
experimental and theoretical physics. Current student-faculty research
areas include: observational astronomy, astrophysics, biophysics,
geophysics, laser and atomic physics, quantum theory, solid state
physics, and string theory.

The optical coherence microscope (OCM) enables researchers to study
biological systems as they grow, because it can see through highly
scattering (milky) media such as a frog embryo (collaboration with
Prof. Scott Fraser, Caltech) or an
artificial cornea as it is growing (collaboration with Prof. Liz
Orwin). The group is now using GPUs to cut image acquisition time by a
factor of 100, making possible real-time three-dimensional imaging
with sub-10-micrometer resolution.

Spintronics: Profs. Eckert, Sparks, and Chen study magnetic
multilayer structures using over $1 million of equipment that includes
two PPMS (physical property measurement systems) and a sputtering
system (to create samples). Collaborators include alum Matt Carey at
Hitachi Labs (formerly IBM Almaden), Eric Fullerton at UC San Diego,
as well as faculty at the University of Minnesota and staff scientists
at NIST/Gaithersburg.

Stephanie Moyerman won HMC’s third Apker Award in 2006; Prof.
Eckert’s research program was recognized by the American Physical
Society in 2008.

Laser-driven fusion: Prof. Donnelly
collaborates with Prof. Todd Ditmire of UT
Austin on a droplet-fusion project, in which tiny liquid droplets of
heavy water are blasted by extremely intense femtosecond laser pulses.
If high enough temperatures can be achieved in the sub-micron
droplets, it is possible that deuterium nuclei can fuse, just as they
do in the sun. The challenges include producing droplets with just the
right size by an ultrasonic atomization technique.

String theory with Prof. Sahakian:
HMC is one of the few colleges
where students have the opportunity to conduct original research in
string theory, and to publish their results in leading journals.

Geophysics: Prof. Lyzenga studies
the crustal deformations in the Los
Angeles region following the 1993 Northridge earthquake using the GPS
system of satellites, and other techniques, and many observation posts
scattered throughout the region. By making very precise measurements
of the position of the markers at these posts over many years, he and
his students track ground movements. Prof. Lyzenga also conducts
computer simulations of tectonic processes and studies the motions of
asteroids.

Birth of stars: Prof. Esin studies the birth of stars,
using both an observational and a computational approach. Astrophysics
students use the 1-meter telescope at Table Mountain Observatory, near
Wrightwood (about an hour away, behind Mt. Baldy). This facility is
shared between HMC, Pomona, and JPL.

Quantum optics and quantum information: Prof. Lynn studies
quantum information and communication through the avenue of
hyperentangled photon pairs, which are pairs of photons with
correlations in more than a single degree of freedom (both
polarization and orbital angular momentum).

Enhancing optical absorption in thin-film solar cells: Prof.
Saeta explores the interaction between metal particles and
photovoltaic multilayer structures to persuade incident light to
propagate over long distances parallel to the surface.

Tempting fate in Professor Eckert’s laboratory.

It’s always a festive time doing summer research in the magnetism group!

Caleb Eades (’16) clowning with the evacuated pipe through which the UT Austin THOR laser beam travels. When fired up, the laser produces 1-J pulses of 40 fs, which means that its peak power of 25 TW is more than 5 times the average power delivered across the US electrical grid.

David Berryrieser and Eric Langman work on aligning the quantum optics setup in Prof. Theresa Lynn’s laboratory.